In a wireless local area network (WLAN), an access point (AP) may send a unicast packet or a multicast packet to a terminal. The unicast packet is a packet that is in WLAN format and whose receiver address (RA) is a unicast medium access control (MAC) address. The multicast packet is a packet that is in WLAN format and whose RA is a multicast MAC address. There is no retransmission mechanism for the multicast packet. When a network condition is poor, the multicast packet may be easily lost. To reduce a loss of the multicast packet, the AP may convert the multicast packet into multiple unicast packets, and separately send the multiple unicast packets. There is a retransmission mechanism for the unicast packet, and the unicast packet may not be easily lost. However, each of the multiple unicast packets is independently sent, and a relatively large quantity of resources are consumed.